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CATALOGUE 
OF 
PAINTINGS IN OIL 
AND PASTEL 


BY 
JAMES A. McNEILL WHISTLER 


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4 


JAMES AB BOT MeN ELLE WHS Pine R 


LENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
(FREER COLLECTION) 


SSS 


ThE 
METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 
OR TART 


PAINTINGS IN OIL 
AND | 
FAS TEL 


BY, 
JAMES An McNELEE 
WHISTLER 


NEW YORK 
MARCH 15 TO MAY 31 
MCMX 


wen 


INTRODUCTION 


The present exhibition of paintings by Whistler 
aims to give a comprehensive idea of the scope 
and development of his work in color. Only 
enough pictures have been included to satisfac- 
torily fill the Gallery of Temporary Exhibitions, 
and in their selection the attempt has been made 
to exemplify the painter's accomplishment as 
adequately as possible at the various stages of 
his career. Owing to the limited space at our 
disposal for the exhibition, water-colors have not 
been included, as it was feared that, with their 
exceedingly delicate and evanescent tone, they 
could hardly be seen to advantage in the close 
neighborhood of the more dominant oils and 
pastels. This 1s the first considerable exhibition 
of Whistler's paintings that has been held in New 
York, although his etchings and lithographs have 
frequently been seen here. 

The Museum gratefully acknowledges its obliga- 
tion to those who, by their generous cobperation, 
have aided in forming this exhibition. These are: 
The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. 
(Freer Collection); The Brooklyn Institute of 
Arts and Sciences; The Carnegie Institute of 

Vv 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


Pittsburgh; Mr. H. H. Benedict; Mr. Richard 
A. Canfield; Col. Frank J. Hecker; Mr. John 
G. Johnson; Mr. Howard Mansfield; Miss 
Rosalind Bernie Philip; Mr. Alfred Atmore 
Pope; Mr. Herbert L. Pratt; Mr. Arthur Studd; 
Mrs. Samuel Untermyer, and Mr. John H.W bitte- 
more. The thanks of the Museum are particu- 
larly due to Mr. Charles L. Freer, without whose 
continual and sympathetic aid the exhibition 
could not have taken place. 

The catalogue has been prepared with a view to 
making tt not only of service in the gallery but 
also an aid to the further study of the life and work — 
of Whistler. A chronological biography is given, 
the pictures are catalogued chronologically, and 
there 1s a short description of each picture with 
notes regarding its execution and inclusion in the 
Whistler exhibitions listed. His work was shown 
from time to time in the Royal Academy, the Salon 
and other current exhibitions, but this is noted 
only in a few important cases. The sizes are all 
sight measurements. Wedmore’s catalogue num- 
ber is given when referring to an etching. If a 
painting has been reproduced one reference is 
entered, preference being given to the illustrations 
in the biography by the Pennells. 

The authorized “ Life of James McNeill W histler”’ 
by E. R. and J. Pennell, published in 1908, has 
been freely drawn upon in compiling this volume, 
as have also the catalogues of the Memorial ex- 

VI 


INTRODUCTION 


hibitions held in London and Paris, and the 
“Works of James McNeill Whistler,” by Elisa- 
beth Luther Cary. The self portrait sketch of 
Whistler, which forms the frontispiece of this 
book, is now reproduced for the first time. 

This catalogue has been prepared by Florence N. 
Levy. 


VAL 


JAMES ABBOTT McNEILL 
7 WHISTLER 


CHRONOLOGICAL BIOGRAPHY 


1834 July 10 or 11—Birth at Lowell, Mass. 
1834 Nov. 9—Baptized James Abbott Whis- 
tler, in the Church of St. Anne, Lowell. 
1837 Family moved to Stonington, Conn. 
1840 Family moved to Springfield, Mass. 
1842 His father, Major George Washington 
Whistler, went to Russia to superintend the 
construction of the railroad from St.. Peters- 
burg to Moscow. 
1843 Aug. 12—Mrs. Whistler with her family 
sailed from Boston to join her husband in St. 
Petersburg. 
1845 Took drawing lessons at the Imperial 
Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg. 
1849 April 7—Death of his father. 
1849 July 29—Returned to the United States, 
reaching New York Aug. 9, and going at once 
to Stonington, Conn. 
1851 July 1—Entered the United States Mili- 
tary Academy at West Point. Added to his 
name his mother’s maiden name, McNeill. 

IX 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


1854 July 16—Discharged from West Point 
Academy for deficiency in chemistry. 
1854 Nov. 7—Received an appointment in the 
drawing division of the United States Coast and 
Geodetic Survey at Washington, D. C., at a 
salary of $1.50 a day. 
1855 Feb.—Resigned his position. The rec- 
ords show that he worked six and a half days 
in January and five and three-quarters days in 
February. 
1855 Summer—Arrived in Paris. Entered 
Gleyre’s studio. 
1859 His painting, At the Piano, rejected at 
the Paris Salon. 
1859 Went to London to live. 
1862 Exhibited for the first time at the Royal 
Academy. 
1863 Paintings rejected by the Paris Salon, 
but hung in the Salon des Refusées. 
1863 Took his first house in London and his 
mother came to live with him at No. 7 Lindsey 
Row, Chelsea. 
1863-1866 Japanese influence most strongly 
shown in his work. 
1866 Went to Valparaiso. 
1871 The first exhibition of a “Variation” 
and a “Harmony.” 
1872 “Symphonies” exhibited for the first 
time and an impression of night under the 
title “‘ Nocturne.” 

X 


CHRONOLOGICAL BIOGRAPHY 


1872 Arrangement in Gray and Black: Por- 

trait of the Artist’s Mother, shown at the 

Royal Academy; the last work exhibited there 

by Whistler. 

1876-7. The Peacock room. 

1877 April 30—Private view of the first Gros- 

venor Gallery exhibition, which contained the 

Falling Rocket. 

1878 Nov. 25 and 26—Whistler v. Ruskin 

trial. 

1878 Dec.—Published Whisiler v. Ruskin: Art 

and Art Critics, the first of a series of brown 

paper covered pamphlets. 

1879 Sept. 18—Auction sale of the contents of 

his home, followed by a sale of his paintings at 

Sotheby’s on Feb. 12, 1880. 

1879 Sept.—Went to Venice; executed many 

etchings and pastels. 

1880 Nov.—Returned to London. 

1881 Autumn—The Pennsylvania Academy 

of the Fine Arts exhibited The Portrait of the 

Artist’s Mother, and it was seen the following 

spring at the exhibition of the Society of Ameri- 

can Artists in New York. This was the first 

time that Whistler had been represented in 

American exhibitions. 

1885 Feb. 20—Delivered a lecture at Prince’s 

Hall, London, at 10 p.m. This lecture was re- 

peated several times and in 1888 he published it 

under the title of Mr. Whisiler’s Ten O'Clock. 
XI 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


1888 Aug. 11—Marriage with Beatrix God- 
win, widow of E. W. Godwin, the architect for 
the White House. She was the daughter of 
John Bernie Philip, a sculptor, and was herself 
an etcher. 

1890 June—The Gentle Art of Making Enemies 
was published in London. 

1891 The Carlyle purchased by the Glasgow 
City Gallery and The Artist’s Mother by the 
Luxembourg, Paris. 

1892 Went to Paris to live. 

1896 May 1o—Death of his wife. 

1902 April—Took a house at No. 74 Cheyne 
Walk, Chelsea, London, returning after ten 
years to the neighborhood where he had spent 
thirty years of his life. 

1903 July 17—Death of Whistler. 


XII 


WHISTLER EXHIBITIONS 


1874 June 6—Private view at No. 48 Pall 

Mall, London, of thirteen paintings and fifty 

prints. Whistler’s first “‘one man show.” 

1881 Jan. 28—Press view of an exhibition of 

fifty-three pastels at the Fine Art Society in 

Bond Street, London. 

1883 Feb.—Fifty-one etchings and dry-points 

exhibited in Bond Street Gallery. 

1884 May—Notes — Harmonies — Nocturnes 

shown at the Dowdeswell Gallery, London. 

1884 Nov.—Twenty-five works sent to the ex- 

hibition of the Dublin Sketching Club. 

1886 May—A «second series of Notes—Har- 

- monies—Nocturnes shown at the Dowdeswell 

Gallery. 

1889 At the College for Working Women, 

Queen Square, London, there was seen the 

most representative exhibition of his work since 

that of 1874. 

1892 March 19—Opening reception at the 

Goupil Galleries, Bond Street, London, of an 

exhibition of forty-four Nocturnes, Marines 
XIII 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


and Chevalet Pieces, for which Whistler pre- 
pared the catalogue. 
1895 Dec.—Seventy lithographs exhibited in 
London. 
1904 Feb.—At the 78th Annual Exhibition of 
the Royal Scottish Academy, Glasgow, there 
was a memorial group of twenty-two oil paint- 
ings and thirty-three pastels and etchings. 
1904 Feb. and March—The Copley Sociéty of 
Boston held, at Copley Hall, a Memorial Ex- 
hibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whis- 
iler. There were one hundred and eighty- 
four oil paintings, water colors, pastels and 
drawings, two hundred and thirty-five etchings 
and dry-points, and eighty lithographs. 
1904 April 15 to May 7—The Grolier Club, 
New York, held an exhibition of etchings, 
consisting of six hundred and twenty-five im- 
pressions from three hundred and ninety-six 
plates. 
1905 Feb. 22 to April 15—Memorial Exhi- 
bition of the Works of the Late James McNeill 
Whistler, First President of the International 
Society of Sculptors, Painters, and Gravers, 
in the New Gallery, Regent Street, London. 
It was held under the auspices of the Society 
and consisted of one hundred and forty-eight 
etchings from the Royal Collections; a chrono- 
logical collection of three hundred and eighty- 
eight etchings; fourteen black and white and 
XIV 


WHISTLER EXHIBITIONS 


colored prints; two hundred and seven litho- 
graphs, black and whites and pastels, and one 
hundred and forty-two nocturnes, marines and 
chevalet pieces. 

1905 May—Exhibition at the Palais de l’Ecole 
des Beaux-Arts, Paris, consisting of one hundred 
and eighty-eight paintings, one hundred and 
one lithographs, and one hundred and fifty 
etchings. 


XV 


HONORS 


1863—GOLD MEDAL AT THE HAGUE 
1863—THIRD CLASS MEDAL, PARIS SALON 


1886 To 1888—PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY OF 
BRITISH ARTISTS 


1888—SECOND CLASS MEDAL, MUNICH 


1888—HONORARY MEMBER’ BAVARIAN ROYAL 
ACADEMY 


1889—FIRST CLASS MEDAL, MUNICH 
1889—CROSS OF ST. MICHAEL OF BAVARIA 


1889—FIRST CLASS MEDAL, BRITISH SECTION, 
PARIS EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE 


1889—CHEVALIER OF THE LEGION OF HONOR, 
FRANCE 


% 
1889—GOLD MEDAL, AMSTERDAM 


1891—MEMBER OF SOCIETE NATIONALE DES 
BEAUX-ARTS, PARIS 


1891—OFFICER OF THE LEGION OF HONOR 


1893—GOLD MEDAL, COLUMBIAN' EXPOSITION, 
CHICAGO 


1894—TEMPLE GOLD MEDAL, PENNSYLVANIA 
ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS, 
PHILADELPHIA 
1895—-GOLD MEDAL, ANTWERP 
XVII 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


1895—PRIZE OF 2,500 FRANCS OFFERED BY THE 
CITY OF MURANO, VENICE INTER- 
NATIONAL EXPOSITION 


1898, APRIL 23, UNTIL HIS DEATH, PRESIDENT 
OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF 
SCULPTORS, PAINTERS AND GRAVERS 


IQ00—GRAND PRIZE FOR PAINTING AND GRAND 
PRIZE FOR ETCHING, AMERICAN SEC- 
TION, PARIS EXPOSITION 
UNIVERSELLE 


190I—GOLD MEDAL, DRESDEN 


IQOI—MEMBER ACADEMIE ROYALE DES BEAUX- 
ARTS, DRESDEN 
1902—GOLD MEDAL OF HONOR, PENNSYLVANIA 
ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS, 
PHILADELPHIA 
1903—DEGREE OF LL.D. CONFERRED BY GLAS- 
GOW UNIVERSITY 


XVIII 


Bob BLOG RAP EY 


The works marked with an asterisk (*) will be 
found in the Museum Library. A card cata- 
logue of magazine article on Whistler may also 
be consulted there. 


BACHER, Otto H. * With Whistler in Venice. 
New York, 1908. 

BELL, ARTHUR G. AND Nancy. J. McNeill 
Whistler and his Work. New York, 1904. 
Bett, Nancy E. (Mrs. Arthur Bell). James 


McNeill Whistler. London and New York, 
1904. (Miniature Series of Painters). 


Representative Painters of the XIX 
Century. London, 1899. Pp. 49-52. 


BENEDITE, LEonce. * L’ceuvre de James Mac- 


Neill Whistler reunis a l’occasion de l’exposition 
commemorative. Paris, 1905. 


Bowpoin, W. G. James McNeill Whistler, the 
Man and his Work. London, 1901. New York, 
1902. 
— James McNeill Whistler. London and 
New York, 1904. 

XIX 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 
BRINTON, CHRISTIAN. * Modern Artists. Pp. 
99-113. New York, 1908. 


CAFFIN, CHARLES H. * American Masters of 
Painting. Pp. 37-54. New York, 1902. 

—— *The Story of American Painting. Pp. 
285-303. New York, 1907. 

Cary, ELIisABETH LUTHER. * The Works of 
James McNeill Whistler. New York, 1907. 


CHESTERTON, G. K. Heretics. London, 1905. 


CHILD, THEODORE. American Artists at the 
Paris Exposition. Pp. 78-97. Art and Crit- 
icism, New York, 1892. 


—— A Pre-Raphaelite Mansion. Pp. 305- 
312. Art and Criticism. New York, 1892. 


CopLey Society oF Boston. * Memorial Ex- 
hibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whis- 
tler, February, 1904. 


Cox, KENyon. * Old Masters and New. Fp. 
227-254. New York, 1905. 


Dennis, G. R. * Bryan’s Dictionary of Paint- 
ers and Engravers. London, 1905. 


DureET, THEODORE. * Histoire de J. McN. 
Whistler et de son ceuvre. Paris, 1904. 


—— *Critique d’avant-garde. Pp. 245-260 
Paris, 1885. 
KX 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Eppy, ARTHUR JEROME. * Recollections and 
Impressions of James A. McNeill Whistler. 
London, 1903. 


EXPOSITION DES CEUVRES DE JAMES MACNEILL 
WHISTLER. Introduction by Léonce Bénédite. 
Palais de l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Paris. May, 
1905. 

ForsyTH, WALTER GREENWOOD, AND HARRI- 
SON, JOSEPH LERoy, Ep. * Guide to the Study 
of James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Albany, 
1895. (University of the State of New York.) 


GALLATIN, ALBERT E. (A.E.G.) * Whistler: 
Notes and Footnotes, and other Memoranda. 
New York, 1907. 


GOODSPEED, CHARLES E. Whistler’s Art Dicta 
and Other Essays. Boston, 1904. 


GROLIER CLus, New York. The Etched Work 
of Whistler. Compiled by Edward G. Ken- 
nedy; introduction by Royal Cortissoz. 1910. 


H., C. J. (HOLLINGWorTH ?). * The Peacock 
Room. Obach Galleries, London, 1904. 


HARTMANN, SADAKICHI. * A History of Ameri- 


can Art. Vol. 2; pp. 132-137, 163-173. Bos- 
ton, 1902. 


HuBBARD, ELsBert. Whistler. East Aurora, 
N. Y., 1903. (Little Journeys Series.) 
XXI 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


HuysMaN, J. K. *Certains. (G. Moreau, 
Degas, Cheret, Whistler, Rops, etc.) Paris 
1880. 

INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF SCULPTORS, 
PAINTERS AND GRAVERS. * Memorial Exhibi- 
tion of the Works of the late James McNeill 
Whistler, London, February 22d to April 15th, 
1905. 

IsHAM, SAMUEL. * The History of American 
Painting. Pp. 316-340. New York, 1905. 
Knoor, TH. J. M. Whistler, Zehnuhr Vor- 
lesung. Strassburg, 1904. 


* 


KOEHLER, SYLVESTER Rosa. * Etching. p. 
162. New York, 1885. 
MacFatt, HALDANE. Whistler: Butterfly, 
Wasp, Wit, Master of the Arts, Enigma. Bos- 
ton, 1907. 
—— Whistler. Boston, 1906. (Spirit of the 
Age Series.) 
MANSFIELD, Howarp. *A Descriptive Cata- 
logue of the Etchings and Dry-points of James 
Abbott McNeill Whistler. Chicago, Caxton 
Club, 1909. 
Mauctair, C. De Watteau a Whistler. Paris, 
1905. 
MacCoL_, DoNALD STEWART. * Nineteenth 
Century Art; James M’Neill Whistler. Pp. 
154-158. Glasgow, 1902. 

XXII 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


McSpPaADDEN, J. WALKER. * Famous Painters 
of America. Pp. 221-271. New York, 1907. 


MenpEs, MorTiIMER. * Whistler as I Knew 
Him. London, 1904. 

Moore, Georce. *Modern Painting. Pp. 
1-24 and 256-7. London, 1808. 

MUTHER, RICHARD. * History of Modern 
Paintings. Vol. 4; pp. 1-44. London, New 
York, 1907. 

PATTISON, JAMES WILLIAM. * Painters Since 
Leonardo. Pp. 202-206. Chicago, 1904. 


PENNELL, E. R. AND J. * The Life of James 
McNeill Whistler. London, 1908. . 
Rosetti, WILLIAM MICHAEL. Fine Art, Chiefly 
Contemporary. Vol. 3; pp. 645-664. New 
York, 1806. 


SINGER, Hans W. * James McNeill Whistler. 
Berlin, 1904. London, 1905. (Langham Series). 


StupIo. * Whistler Portfolio. London, 1905. 
Symons, ARTHUR. *Studies in Seven Arts. 
Pp. 121-148. New York, 1906. 


THOMAS, RALPH. Catalogue of the etchings 
and dry-points of James Abbott Macneil Whis- 
tler. London, 1874. 


TUCKERMAN, H. T. * Book of Artists. Pp. 
485-486. New York, 1867. 
XXIII 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 
VicroRIA AND ALBERT Museum. The Etch- 
ings of J. McN. Whistler. (Catalogue.) Lon- 
don, 1905. 

Vose, Georce L. Sketch of the Life and 
Works of George W. Whistler, Civil Engineer. 
Boston, 1887. 


Way, THomas R. *Mr. Whistler’s Litho- 
graphs. London, 1896. 


Way, R. AND Dennis G. R. *The Art of 
James McNeill Whistler; An Appreciation. 
London, 1903. | 

WEDMoRE, FREDERICK. * Whistler’s Etching: 
A Study and a Catalogue. London, 1886. 


—— *A Note on the Etchings by Whistler 
Exhibited at the Galleries of Obach & Com- 
pany, London, 1903. 


— Four Masters of Etching (Whistler, Le- 
gros, Seymour Haden and Jacquemart). Pp. 
28-39. London, 1883-89. 


* Whistler and Others (24 essays). Lon- 
don and New York, 1906. 


WuisTLer, J. A. M. Eden v. Whistler. The 
Baronet and the Butterfly: A Valentine with a 
Verdict. Paris, 1899. 


* The Gentle Art of Making Enemies. 
London, 1890. (New edition, 1892, includes: 
XXIV 


pemnier 3ast ST ES Ma et a SE es Se a er 
Se Pind SET nen ee ee 
nn nS Ee SITS aa ee 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 
Mr. Whistler’s Ten O’Clock; Whistler v. Rus- 


kin; The Painter-Etcher Papers, and The Noc- 
turnes, Marines and Chevalet Pieces.) 


Nocturnes, Marines and Chevalet Pieces. 
London, 1892. 


The Paddon Papers; or The Owl and the 
Cabinet. London, 1882. 


—— The Piker Papers. 
* Mr. Whistler’s Ten O’Clock. London, 


1888. 


* Whistler v. Ruskin; Art and Art 
Critics. The White House, Chelsea, London, 
December, 1878. 


Whistler Album. (20 photographs). 
Paris, 1892. 


—— Wilde v. Whistler: being an Acrimonious 
Correspondence. London, 1896. 


XXV 


Pj 


i 
oe, 


CATALOGUE 
OF 
PAINTINGS IN OIL 
AND PASTEL 
BY 
JAMES. A. McNEILL WHISTLER 


1 HARMONY IN GREEN AND 
ROSE: THE MUSIC ROOM 


LENT BY FRANK J. HECKER 


The corner of a room with a mirror at the left 
which reflects a lady, who is not seen in the 
picture. In front of the window hangs a pair 
of curtains, their white ground covered with 
red flowers and green leaves. In the back- 
ground, near the window, a little girl in white is 
seated, reading. On the right stands a young 
woman in a black riding habit which she holds 
with her gloved right hand. The carpet is 
dark red. 

The picture was painted in 1860 in the London 
home of Sir F. Seymour Haden, the painter- 
etcher. The reflection in the mirror is that of 
Lady Seymour Haden, Whistler’s step-sister, 
with whom he was living at the time; the little 
girl is Annie Haden, and the lady in a riding 
habit is Miss Boot, a connection of the Hadens 
by marriage. The first title of the picture was 

I 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


The Morning Call. There are four etchings of 
Annie (W. 2, 15, 24, and 57). The etching of 
The Music Room (W. 26) is an entirely different 
composition, showing the Haden family in the 
same room. 

The painting was shown at the Goupil Gallery 
Exhibition in 1892 (No. 12), when it was lent 
by Mme. Reveillon; it was in the Memorial Ex- 
hibitions at Boston (No. 15) and Paris (No. 7). 
An illustration appears in Pennell, v. 1, p. Pe 
Oil on canvas; H. 372”, W. 29”. 


* BLUE ASD SLEV ER? the Bt ue 
WAVE—BIARRITZ 


LENT BY ALFRED ATMORE POPE 


The blue wave breaks over a reef of brown 
rocks. Above is a light sky with broken drift- 
ing clouds. Signed, Whistler 1862, 0n the rocks 
in the foreground, to the left. 
Whistler was one of the group who went to 
Bonvin’s studio in 1858 to work from the 
model under the direction of Courbet and the 
master’s influence is seen in this picture. 
It was included in the Memorial Exhibitions at 
Boston (No. 54), London (No. 29) and Paris 
(No.55). In Léonce Bénédite’s plates from the 
Paris Memorial Exhibition it was reproduced 
as No. XXIXx. . 
Oil on canvas; H. 242”, W. 342”. 

2 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBER 3 


5 ee ee ON eae 
THE WHITE GIRL 


LENT BY JOHN H. WHITTEMORE 


It is the full length, life size figure of a young 
woman, turned slightly to the left. She is 
dressed in white and stands on a white fur 
rug that lies on a white and blue carpet, in 
front of a white curtain. Her eyes are gray and 
her dark auburn hair hangs about her face; in 
her left hand she holds, loosely, a single white 
flower, while pansies, lilacs and other flowers 
are scattered on the rug and carpet. 

It is signed on the right at the top, Whistler, 
1862. The frame was designed by Whistler 
and decorated with an imbricated design; the 
butterfly signature is on the right-hand side 
above the center. On the back of the frame in 
the artist’s handwriting: J]. 4. McNeill Whis- 
tler, 2 Lindsey Houses, Chelsea, his address from 
1866 to 1878. 

The model for this was Jo—Joanna Heffernan, 
Mrs. Abbot, an Irish woman of little education 
but of keen intelligence, who, while sitting to 
Whistler, learned much about painting and be- 
came well read. She played an important part 
- in Whistler’s life during the early London years 
and was with him in France in 1861-2, going 
to Paris in the winter to give him sittings for 
The White Girl, which he painted in a studio 


5 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


in the Boulevard des Batignolles. He also 
painted her, although perhaps not that winter, 
as La Belle Irlandaise, as Jo, Note Blanche and 
as The Little White Girl (No. 6 in this exhibi- 
tion). There is also a dry-point of Jo (W. 64) 
dated 1861, which shows her with streaming 
hair. | 

This picture was his first attempt to carry out 
the principle afterward set down in his Ten 
O’Clock, that “the artist is born to pick and 
choose, and group with science, the elements 
contained in nature, that the result may be 
beautiful.” It was an arrangement of white 
against white which was not understood at that 
time. The White Girl was sent to the Royal 
Academy of 1862 but was rejected. The man- 
ager of the Berners Gallery exhibited it at the 
opening exhibition in the summer of 1862 and 
the Atheneum said that it was “the most prom- 
inent picture in the collection, though not the 
most perfect. Able as this bizarre production 
shows Mr. Whistler to be, it is one of the most 
incomplete paintings we have ever met with. A 
woman in a quaint morning dress of white, with 
her hair about her shoulders, stands alone in a 
background of nothing in particular. But for 
the rich vigor of the textures, we might con- 
ceive this to be some old portrait by Zucchero, 
or a pupil of his, practicing in a provincial town. 
The face is well done, but it is not that of Mr. 

4 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBER 3 


Wilkie Collins’s Woman in White.” This brought 
forth what is believed to be the first of Whis- 
tler’s long series of letters to the press. He 
wrote that he had no intention of illustrating 
Mr. Wilkie Collins’s novel, which, it happened, 
he had never read, and that his picture repre- 
sented merely a girl in white standing in front 
of a white curtain. 

After its Berners Street success, The White 
Girl was chosen by Whistler for the Paris Salon 
of 1863, where it was rejected; but it was shown 
in the Salon de Refusées, arranged by order of 
Napoleon III in the same building as the official 
Salon. Zola, in L’CEuvre, says that the crowd 
laughed in front of La Dame en Blanc. Des- 
noyers thought it the most remarkable picture, 
at once simple and fantastic with a beauty so 
peculiar that the public did not know whether 
to think it beautiful or ugly. Paul Mantz wrote 
in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts that it was the 
most important picture in the exhibition and 
calls the picture a “‘Symphonie du Blanc,” some 
years before Whistler adopted that title. The 
White Girl was the first of the “Symphonies in 
White”; No. II is The Little White Girl lent by 
Mr. Arthur H. Studd (No. 6 in this catalogue), 
and Symphony in White No. III is the picture 
now known as The Two Little White Girls, 
which belongs to Mr. Edmund Davis. 

The White Girl was shown in the American sec- 


5 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


tion of the Paris International Exposition of 
1867; the title Symphony in White No. I: The 
White Girl was used for the first time when it 
was in the International Exhibition at South 
Kensington, London, in 1872; it was lent to 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art from July, 
1894, to December, 1895; and was shown in the 
Portrait Show held at the National Academy 
of Design, New York, in 1898. It was in the 
Memorial Exhibitions in Boston (No. 71), in 
London (No. 37) and in Paris (No. 4). An 
illustration appears in Pennell, v. 1, p. 112. 

Oil on canvas; H. 844”, W. 424”. 


4 THE LANGE LEIZEN—OF 
THE SIX MARKS > 262 Bee 2x w 
ROSE 


LENT BY JOHN G. JOHNSON 


'A young woman in Japanese costume is seated 
and with her left hand holds on her lap a blue 
and white vase of the shape known in Holland 
as the “Lange Leizen”’; the “‘ six marks ” refers 
to the potter’s mark on the bottom of the vase. 
The sleeve of her kimono covers her raised right 
hand in which she holds a brush. Her skirt is 
black with a delicate design in color; the kimono 
has bright flowers on a cream-white ground and 
is lined with rose color; a band of rose, edged 
with black, finishes the sleeve. A black scarf 
6 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBER 4 


is tied around her hair and falls over each 
shoulder. There are several blue and white 
vases, an Oriental carpet is on the floor, to the 
right is a red covered table, and back of her a 
chest. 

Signed, Whistler 1864, on the green and orange 
pendants in the upper right corner. The frame 
was designed by Whistler and decorated by him 
with Chinese frets and the six marks. 

The Lange Leizen, The Gold Screen, The Bal- 
cony and the Princesse du Pays de la Porce- 
laine are the important pictures with Japanese 
motives that were painted between 1862 and 
1866 in the studio at No. 7 Lindsey Row, a 
modest little second-story back room. The 
method was that of his earlier works, the paint 
thickly laid on, with the richness he later sacri- 
ficed to other and more subtle qualities. The 
difference was in his subjects. It was not 
Japan, however, that Whistler wanted to paint 
—he clothed his English models in Eastern 
dress and produced beautiful color and form 
with Japanese detail. He was one of the first 
to appreciate the beauty of Chinese porcelains 
and owned choice pieces. 

This picture was in the Royal Academy of 1864, 
and in the Goupil Gallery Exhibition of 1892 
(No. 5). An illustration appears in Pennel, v. 
I, p. 122. 

Oil on canvas; H. 352”, W. 234”. 


7 


( 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


| 7 
x. 5 HARMONY IN PURPLE AND 


GOL Bi PES THEE EDEN Sear EN 


LENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
(FREER COLLECTION) 


A young woman in Japanese costume is seated 
on a brown rug, her head seen in profile to the 
right, as she examines a Japanese print held in 
her left hand. She wears a purple under 
kimono with multicolored flowers and_bor- 
dered with a vermilion scarf, and a green obi 
is around her waist; her outer kimono is white 
with a red flowered design. To the left is a 
tea box, some roses, and in a blue and white 
vase there are pansies; to the right, Hiroshige 
prints are scattered over the floor and beyond 
is a folding chair; the background consists of a 
folding screen with Japanese houses and figures 
painted on a gold ground. Signed, Whistler 
1864, at the left on the rug near the box. 

It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 
1865; was lent by Cyril Flower to the Goupil 
Gallery Exhibition of 1892 (No. 14), and was in 
the Paris Memorial Exhibition (No. 8). An 
illustration appears in Pennel, v. 11, p. 124. 

Oil on panel; H. 194”, W. 26”. 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBER 6 


6 SYMPrRON Y IN WHITE 
pif ee LITTLE WHat e Girt 


LENT BY ARTHUR STUDD 


Standing before a mantel is the three-quarter 
length of a young girl in a white dress, the 
figure turned three-quarters to the right. The 
head, with loosened hair, is seen in profile and 
is reflected in the glass. Her right hand hangs 
at her side and holds a Japanese fan with 
Hiroshige-like decorations; the left arm rests 
on the white mantel ledge in front of a red lac- 
quered box and a blue and white vase. Pink 
and purple azaleas show at the right near the 
edge of the canvas. 

The picture is signed, Whistler, at the top near 
the right. It was dated originally 1864, but 
about 1900 Whistler painted out the date, 
saying that he “‘did not see the use of those 
great figures sprawling there.” 

It was painted later than the Golden Screen and 
the Lange Leizen, and there was no mas- 
querading here in foreign costume. The model 
was Jo, who also posed for The White Girl (No. 
3 in this exhibition). A change of method 
is noticeable, the paint is thinner on the 
canvas and there is greater repose in the com- 
position. Swinburne saw the picture before it 
was sent to the Royal Academy of 1865 and 
wrote Before the Mirror: Verses under a Pic- 


9 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


ture, two verses of which were inserted in the 
catalogue. . 
The painting was lent by Gerald Potter to the 


Goupil Gallery exhibition in 1892 (No. 33); it 


was at the Venice International Exposition of 
1895; in the American section of the Paris 
International Exposition of 1900, and at the 
Memorial Exhibitions in Boston (No. 28), and 
Paris (No. 5). It is illustrated in Pennell, v. 
Il, p. 252. 

Oil on canvas; H. 29%”, W. 192”. 


7 NOCTURNE—BLUE AND GOLD 
VALPARAISO 


LENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
(FREER COLLECTION) 


In the foreground, stretching out into the water, 
is a pier, with many people walking about; 
small boats to the right and beyond a fleet of 
ships, their lights and masts reflected on the 
water. The distant shore is mountainous and 
the sky above is light blue. To the extreme 
left a shower of sparks falls from a rocket. 
This is one of the few pictures which remain of 
those painted during Whistler’s trip to Chili, 
where he and his brother went in 1866 with the 
idea of joining the insurgents. When they 
reached Valparaiso the rebellion had ceased. 
This picture was lent to the London Memorial 
10 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBER 8 


Exhibition (No. 16) by George McCulloch. An 
illustration appears in Way, p. 62. 
Oil on canvas; H. 294”, W. 192”. 


YOM PHONY WN. GaAY .AN-D 
E 


8 S 
GREEN: THE OCEAN 


LENT BY RICHARD A. CANFIELD 

A broad expanse of water with several vessels 
at anchor. To the left the end of a pier against 
which waves are breaking; to the right branches 
and leaves are silhouetted against the water. 
The sky is green-gray and lightest at the hori- 
zon. 

Butterfly monogram is in a dark cartouche to 
the right near the bottom. The frame was de- 
signed and decorated‘by Whistler; the butterfly 
monogram is repeated on the right hand side of 
the frame, a little higher than the signature on 
the canvas. 


This is the earliest picture in the exhibition 
wherein the butterfly monogram appears. 
Whistler began to feel that a large signature, 
such as he used in his early pictures, was a dis- 
cordant note. In the Golden Screen the signa- 
ture is interlaced and placed in a decorative 
way somewhat after the Japanese fashion. 
With the symphonies, nocturnes and large 
portraits the butterfly began to be used. It 
II 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


was made from the interlacing of the letters 
J. M. W. into a monogram, which gradually 
evolved into the butterfly in outline, then 
shaded, and finally a stencil-like silhouette. 
It was introduced as a note of color, as im- 
portant in the picture as anything else. At 
times it was put in almost at the first painting 
to judge the effect; was scraped out with the 
rest, and put in again and again until he secured 
the proper effect. The butterfly was used as a 
signature on prints and in his correspondence, 
on invitations and on catalogues; in The Gentle 
Art of Making Enemies it was elaborated in 
many ways and a sting was added. 


This is one of the pictures painted at Valparaiso; 
its first title was The Pacific. 
The picture was lent to the Goupil Gallery Ex- 


~ hibition in 1892 (No. 15) by Mrs. Peter Taylor; 


it was in the Salon the same year and was in 
the Memorial Exhibitions at Boston (No. 74) 
and Paris (No. 62). 

Oil on canvas; H. 31”, W. 382”. 


9 NOCTURNE: BLUE AND SILVER 
—BOGNOR 


LENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
(FREER COLLECTION) 


In the foreground is the beach with a silvery 
line of low waves; the silhouettes of two figures 
12 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBER 10 


are discerned to the left. Beyond is a calm 
deep blue sea with four sail-boats, two of them 
with lights; the blue sky is dotted with stars. 
Butterfly monogram, in white, is on a rail post 
in right-hand lower corner. 

This picture was lent by Alfred Chapman to the 
Goupil Gallery Exhibition in 1892 (No. 24) and 
was in the Memorial Exhibitions at Boston (No. 
65) and Paris (No. 68). 

Oil on canvas; H. 194”, W. 334”. 


io PORTRAIT SKETCH OF MR. 
Wits LEK 


_ QALENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
v, (FREER COLLECTION) 


ae ' Half length portrait, the figure turned to the 
; right and the face in three-quarter view. He _ 
wears a loose black coat, with low white collar 
showing, and a soft black hat under which his 
gray lock is seen. Dark background. 

The earliest known self-portrait in oil is the one 
painted in Paris about 1859, the Whistler with 
a Hat (illustrated in Pennell, v. 1, p. 190 
and engraved by Guérard),-which was lent by 
Samuel P. Avery to the Memorial Exhibitions 
in Boston (No. 55) and Paris (No. 1). William 
Michael Rosetti in his diary for February 5, 
1867, mentions seeing in Whistler’s studio “‘a 
clever, vivacious portrait of himself,” believed 


13 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


to be the one that belonged to the late George 
McCullough and which appears as the frontis- 
piece to Pennell, v. 11. 

The portrait sketch in this exhibition belongs 
to about this period or a little later and is re- 
produced for the first time. 

In 1874 Whistler wrote to Fantin-Latour about 
studies for a big picture on the plan of that 
artist’s Homage a Delacroix. Whistler was to 
be the central figure with the White Girl on a 
couch, La Japonaise walking about, and Albert 
Moore and Fantin to give the black note. One 
of the studies, Whistler in his Studio, is illus- 
trated in Pennell, v. 1, p. 184. In 1894 he was 
painting a portrait of himself in a white jacket 
which, according to the Pennells, was changed 
into a dark coat after his wife’s death. A full 
length in long overcoat was in the Paris Expo- 
sition of 1900 under the title of Brown and 
Gold; a half-length belonging to George W. 
Vanderbilt and was in the Memorial Exhibi- 
tions in Boston (No. 1) and Paris (No. 29) 
under the same title of Brown and Gold, and 
reproduced in Léonce Bénédite, plate 1, while 
a pen and ink drawing for it is shown in 
Pennell, v. 11, p. 202. 

There are several etched self-portraits. A very 
early one (W. 1), one dated 1859 (W. 52) and the 
Whistler with the White Lock (W. 142), the 
frontispiece to Ralph Thomas’ Catalogue of 


14 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBER IT 


Etchings and Drypoints of Whistler is an 
etching very similar to the McCullough portrait 
and is dated 1874. A chalk drawing belonging 
to Thomas Way is illustrated in Pennell, v. 1, 
p. 136. 

Oil on canvas; H. 274”, W. 2134”. 


bk POR TRALT OF FR. GEY LAND 


,0? LENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
i (FREER COLLECTION) 


Full length, life size figure, slightly turned to 
the right, the face full front. His hair and full 
pointed beard are brown; he wears black even- 
ing dress with a white ruffled shirt; the right 
hand rests on the hip and over the left arm he 
carries a gray overcoat; a silver buckle shows 
on the right shoe. Dark background and gray 
floor. 

Mr. Frederick Leyland was one of Whistler’s 
early patrons, and between 1872 and 1874 he 
painted portraits of both Mr. and Mrs. Leyland 
and of their four children. Whistler made long 
visits at Speke Hall, Leyland’s place near Liver- 
pool, and the big canvases traveled with him, 
back and forth between Speke Hall and London, 
sittings being given in both places. Etchings 
and dry-points that record these visits are: 
Speke Hall (W. 86, dated 1870, and Sup. 269), 
Speke Shore (W. 119), Shipping at Liverpool 


5 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


(W. 84) and The Dam Wood (W. 120). It was 
for Mr. Leyland’s London house in Prince’s 
Gate that the Peacock Room was decorated. 
In this portrait Whistler for the first time sup- 
pressed the background and put the figure into 
the atmosphere in which it stood, without any 
accessories; the problem was to make the figure 
stand as far within the frame as the artist stood 
from it when he painted it. Mr. Graves, one of 
Whistler’s assistants, says of this portrait that 
he “got into an awful mess” over the legs and 
finally had a model to pose for it nude. An 
etching (W. 93, inscribed Mr. Frederick Ley- 
land) shows only the upper part of the body. 
Mr. Leyland’s portrait was finished in the winter 
of 1873 and was shown in Whistler’s Pall Mall 
Exhibition of 1874. It was lent to the London 
Memorial (No. 100) by Mrs. Val Prinsep, and is 
illustrated in the London catalogue, p. 118. A 
sketch for the portrait was lent to the London 
Memorial (No. 97) by Charles Conder. 

Oil on canvas; H. 74”, W. 35”. 


iz NOCTURNE TN DEACK AWD 
GOLD: THE FALLING ROCKET” 


LENT BY MRS. SAMUEL UNTERMYER 


A dark blue night scene with fireworks in a 

park. In the foreground is a path with a grass 

plat to the right; on the left a mass of foliage 
16 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBER 12 


and a crowd of people, felt rather than seen. 
In the distance are two illuminated towers; 
bursting skyrockets, drop showers of sparks. 
Exhibited first at the Dudley Gallery in October, 
1875, when it was scarcely noticed. It was next 
seen with seven other paintings by Whistler at 
the first exhibition of the Grosvenor Gallery, 
which opened with a reception on April 30, 
1877. This was the independent gallery or- 
ganized by Sir Coutts Lindsay in opposition to 
the Royal Academy in London, the “greenery- 
yallery, Grosvenor Gallery” parodied by Gil- 
bert and Sullivan. The critics praised Burne- 
Jones, Millais, Leighton and others, but only 
sneered at Whistler; the Atheneum referring to 
this ‘‘whimsical, if capable, artist and his 
vagaries.” Ruskin, in his Fors Clavigera of 
July 2, 1877, wrote: “For Mr. Whistler’s own 
sake, no less than for the protection of the pur- 
chaser, Sir Coutts Lindsay ought not to have 
admitted works into the gallery in which the 
ill-educated conceit of the artist so nearly ap- 
proaches the aspect of wilful imposture. I have 
seen, and heard, much of cockney impudence 
before now, but never expected to hear a cox- 
comb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a 
pot of paint in the public’s face.” 

This led to the famous libel suit of Whistler v. 
Ruskin, November 25 and 26, 1878, when the 
jury awarded Whistler damages of one farthing, 


17 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


without costs. During the trial Whistler gave 
the following definition of a Nocturne: “I have 
perhaps meant rather to indicate an artistic in- 
terest alone in the work, divesting the picture 
from any outside sort of interest which might 
have been otherwise attached to it. It is an 
arrangement of line, form and color first, and | 
make use of any incident which shall bring 
about a symmetrical result. Among my works 
are some night pieces; and I have chosen the 
word ‘nocturne’ because it generalizes and 
simplifies the whole set of them.” After Whis- 
tler had stated that he worked about two days 
on The Falling Rocket, the Attorney General 
said: ‘‘The labor of two days, then, is that for 
which you ask two hundred guineas?” to which 
Whistler replied: ‘‘ No—I ask it for the knowl- 
edge of a lifetime.” 

Whistler recorded all the details of the trial in 
a brown-covered pamphlet published by him in 
December, 1878, under the title of Whistler v. 
Ruskin: Art and Art Critics. This was included 
in the later editions of his Gentle Art of Making 
Enemies. 

The picture was in the Goupil Exhibition of 
1892 (No. 10) and the Memorial Exhibitions in 
Boston (No. 84) and Paris (No. 66). An illus- 
tration appears in Pennell, v. 1, p. 232. 

Oil on panel; H. 233”, W. 172”. 


18 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBER 13 


3 ARRANGEMENT IN BLACK 
AND BROWN: ROSA CORDER 


LENT BY RICHARD A. CANFIELD 


Full length, life size, standing figure with her 
back toward the spectator, her body turned to 
the right and her face seen in profile. Her light 
brown hair is tightly coiled. She wears a black 
dress and a black coat edged with fur, with 
white showing at the neck and down the front. 
The right hand, hanging at her side, holds a 
brown felt hat with flowing brown feather. 
The background is dark, almost black; the 
floor is gray-brown. 

Jacque Blanche, the painter, has said that 
Whistler once saw Miss Rosa Corder in her 
brown dress pass a door painted black and was 
struck with the effect of color. The picture 
was begun at 2 Lindsey Row, before 1876, as a 
commission from Charles Augustus Howell, 
Whistler’s man of affairs. It was sold at 
Christie’s with Howell’s other effects in April, 
1881, for £130. In 1902 Whistler saw to the 
cleaning of this picture when it was purchased 
by the present owner from Graham Robertson. 
The picture was exhibited at the Grosvenor 
Gallery in 1879; at the Salon des Artistes Fran- 
¢ais in 1890; International Society of Sculptors, 
Painters and Gravers in 1898 (No. 178), and in 
the Memorial Exhibitions at Boston (No. 25) 


"9 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


and Paris (No. 21). An illustration appears in 
Pennell, v. 1, p. 296. 
Oil on canvas; H. 75”, W. 36”. 


m4 PORTRAIT OF FLORENCE 
LEYLAND 


LENT BY THE BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS 
AND SCIENCES 


Full length, life size, standing figure, seen full 
face. She wears a gray dress with a black bow 
where the fishu meets; white ruffles fall over 
her black gloves and a handkerchief is held 
in her right hand. Her round, black hat is 
trimmed with gray. The background is almost 
black, the floor slightly gray. 

Whistler made a dry-point of Florence Leyland 
(W. 96) in 1873, showing her in early girlhood 
with a hoop in her hand; comparing that with 
the apparent age of the subject of this portrait 
it must have been painted about 1877. Flor- 
ence Leyland, the youngest daughter of F. R. 
Leyland (see No. 11 in this catalogue), was also 
the original Blue Girl or Baby Leyland, a full 
length three times attempted and once com- 
pleted but destroyed by Whistler. Several 
studies are known, a pen-and-ink sketch is 
illustrated in Duret, p. 53. 

After the death of Mr. Leyland in 1892, the 
portrait became the property of Florence Ley- 

20 


yr 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBER I5 


land, who had married Val Princep, the painter. 
Her husband died in 1905 and it was purchased 
the following year for the Brooklyn Institute 
of Arts and Sciences. 

Oil on canvas; H. 742”, W. 354”. 


15 bee Ov ha. oS EP EVO NY 2 
}°oTHREE GIRLS 


LENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
(FREER COLLECTION) 


Three women dressed in white are in a Japanese- 
like garden, the blue sky showing between the 
white wall and the white awning. In the cen- 
ter, a kneeling figure wearing a red cap is 
tending a pink-blossomed bush in a red pot 
raised on a green trellis. The girl on the left, 
leaning over, has a pink drapery and a purple 
fan is in her hand. To the right standsa figure 
wearing a red cap and holding a Japanese para- 
sol over her right shoulder. 

This is one of the Six Schemes or Projects, of 
practically the same size, which were probably 
the studies for a decoration for Mr. Leyland that 
was never executed. William Michael Rosetti, 
the writer, in his diary for July 28, 1867, noted: 
“Whistler is doing on a largish scale, for Ley- 
land, the subject of women with flowers.” 

This picture was in the Memorial Exhibitions 
at Boston (No. 19) and Paris (No. 11). A simi- 

21 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


lar composition called Three Figures, Pink and 
Gray was lent by Alfred Chapman to the Lon- 
don Memorial (No. 399). There are several 
etchings and lithographs in which the separate 
figures of the Projects may be found. 

Oil on academy board; H. 173”, W. 234”. 


146 NOCTURNE: BLUE AND SIL- 
VER-—BATTERSEA REACH 


LENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
(FREER COLLECTION) 


A foggy evening on the Thames. In the fore- 
ground, on the right, are boats with folded sails. 
Through a blue-gray veil of mist that covers 
river and sky, is seen the irregular line of docks 
with points of light. 

This picture was lent by W. G. Rawlinson to 
the Goupil Gallery Exhibition in 1892; it was 
in the Memorial Exhibitions at Boston (No. 
63) and Paris (No. 70). 

Oil on canvas; H. 194”, W. 29%”. 


7 THE JAPANESE DRESS 
LENT BY HOWARD MANSFIELD 


The standing figure of a young woman, her 

right hand crossing her body to hold over her 

left shoulder a yellow Japanese parasol. Her 

left hand grasps the kimono, which is flesh- 
22 


Co, 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBER 18 


colored with a pattern in peacock-blue and is 
lined with yellow. The skirt of gray-blue 
with touches of light blue and bright rose, 
is caught at the waist with a vermillion obi. 
On her yellow hair is a flesh-colored cap with a 
peacock-blue band and a touch of rose-color. 
The butterfly monogram, shaded with peacock- 
blue, is placed to the left of the figure on a line 
slightly above the knees. Along the right- 
hand edge, in pencil, and almost covered by the 
pastel, is the inscription 2 Lindsey Houses, 
Chelsea. Whistler moved to No. 2 Lindsey 
Row, Chelsea, late in 1866 and the house was 
sold in 1878. 

It was in the Boston Memorial Exhibition 
(No. 116). 

Pastel on brown paper; H. 10”, W. 64”. 


v8 ANNABEL LEE 
t 


LENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
(FREER COLLECTION) 


A female figure standing near the sea with her 
left hand on a railing and her back toward the 
spectator. She is dressed in gauzy white held 
with yellow bands; an iridescent blue and 
green scarf floats from her arms and a purple 
cap covers her light hair. Beyond is a wide 
expanse of light blue sea and sky. In the fore- 
ground, purple irises rise from the green lawn. 


#3 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


Butterfly monogram, shaded with purple, i 
placed in the water to the left. 

There is an oil painting of the same subject, 
never exhibited. Whistler rarely gave literary 
titles to his pictures, the only other one known 
being the Effie Deans in the Rijks Museum at 
Amsterdam. 

This picture was lent by Thomas Way to the 
London Memorial Exhibition (No. 63). An 
illustration appears in Pennell, v. 11, p. 92. 
Pastel on brown paper; H. 123”, W. 63”. 


Oo TRE DOORWAY; VENTE 
LENT BY RICHARD A. CANFIELD 


A courtyard with two gaily dressed women at 
awell. Through the doorway is seen a passage, 
a canal and the houses on the other bank. 
Above the doorway are three windows with 
green shutters and railings; in two of the win- 
dows women are leaning over the railing. 
Butterfly monogram, shaded with brown, placed 
to the right below the center. 

Whistler’s only visit to Venice was from Sep- 
tember, 1879 to November, 1880, and during 
that time he executed many etchings and pas- 
tels. His method was to draw with black 
chalk on brown paper and then faintly suggest 
with pastels the colors of the old walls, the 
green shutters, the women’s bright dresses. 


24 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBERS 20 AND 2I 


The color was put in as with mosaics or stained 
glass—usually a flat tint of pastel between the 
black lines. In this way he had for years made 
studies for his pictures. 

These seven Venetian pastels were lent by Mr. 
Canfield to the Paris Memorial Exhibition. 
This one was No. 166. 

Pastel on brown paper; H. 11”, W. 74”. 


26 A. SGN Artie VE EEN IeC 
LENT BY RICHARD A. CANFIELD 


A narrow, winding canal with four moored gon- 
dolas; in the distance a steep, single arch 
bridge. Houses to the right and left with green 
shutters reflected in the water. The same 
canal from a slightly different point of view may 
be seen in the etching, Quiet Canal (W. 184). 
Butterfly monogram, shaded with brown, placed 
at the left near the bottom. 

This picture was in the Paris Memorial Exhi- 
bition (No. 156). 

Pastel on brown paper; H. 114”, W.5}’”. 


ay Te FE eRe y ) Ve Oe 
LENT BY RICHARD A. CANFIELD 


A narrow canal with steps at the end; three 

moored gondolas. To the right are houses with 

green and red shutters; to the left a high wall 
25 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


with overhanging foliage. In the middle dis- 
tance is a single arched bridge, and beyond, to 
the left, a row of houses. 

Butterfly monogram, shaded with brown, in 
lower left corner. 

This picture was in the Paris Memorial Exhi- 
bition (No. 157). 

Pastel on brown paper; H. 103”, W. 5”. 


22h A SNS ABR Ne EN, 6G, Es 
LENT BY RICHARD A. CANFIELD 


A woman in a black shawl is seen in a narrow 
street with high houses on each side. Beyond 
are steps and several figures. 

This picture was in the Paris Memorial Exhi- 
bition (No. 161). 

Pastel on brown paper; H. 104”, W. 34”. 


23 Peer ERY Ve Nem 
LENT BY RICHARD A. CANFIELD 


A wide canal with three draped gondolas; to 
the right a white church and its cemetery 
with green trees. In the distance a line of 
buildings silhouetted between sea and sky. 
Butterfly monogram, in outline, in lower left 
corner. 

This picture was in the Paris Memorial Exhi- 

26 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBERS 24 AND 25 


bition (No. 155). An illustration appears in 
Cary, p. 108. 
Pastel on brown paper; H. 64”, W. 102”. 


24 NOCTURNE, VENICE 
LENT BY RICHARD A. CANFIELD 


In the foreground a line of boats; lights gleam 
on the distant shore and are reflected in the 
water. 

Butterfly monogram, shaded, placed to the 
right near the bottom. 

This picture was in the Paris Memorial Exhi- 
bition (No. 154). 

Pastel on brown paper; H. 74”, W. 1032”. 


2, LONG VENICE 
LENT BY RICHARD A. CANFIELD 


View of Venice seen from the lagoon; vessels 
at anchor; deep blue water reflecting several 
campaniles. A similar composition appears in 
the etching, Little Venice (W. 149), which was 
one of the Venice set published by the Fine Art 
Society, London, 1880. 
Butterfly monogram, in outline, on lower edge 
to the right of the center. 
This picture was in the Paris Memorial Exhi- 
bition (No. 152). 
Pastel on brown paper; H. 44”, W. 103”. 

27 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


6 “ATOR WA YO VE NTO 

LENT BY HOWARD MANSFIELD 
A red and orange wall broken by an archway, 
within which a child is leaning against the left 
wall; another figure stands in the center of the 
archway. A woman, wearing an orange shawl, 
stands in the open court seen through the arch- 
way; beyond her, on the right, is a green shutter 
and on the left a door with a glass fan-light. 
This picture was in the Boston Memorial Exhi- 
bition (No. 127). | 
Pastel on brown paper; H. 114”, W. 74”. 


a7 oT ELE Solo our «MORN Coe 


LENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
(FREER COLLECTION) 

The blue sea is dotted with white sails and a 

large brown one is seen to the right; the Isles 

are silhouetted against a light sky. 

Butterfly monogram, shaded in violet, in lower 

right corner. 

Pastel on brown paper; H. 31”, W. 102”. 


38. VEINS. AST ARTE 


LENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
(FREER COLLECTION) 
A nude standing figure, seen full front, who 
holds back a green veil. There is a rose-colored 
band in her brown hair. 


28 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBER 29 


Butterfly monogram, shaded with rose, placed 
to the right. 

This picture was in the Paris Memorial Exhi- 
bition (No. 132). | 

Pastel on brown paper; H. 103”, W. 63”. 


29) ARRANGEMENT tT Ne BLACK. ; 
PORTRAIT OF SENOR PABLO DE 
SARASARTE 


LENT BY THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTE, PITTSBURG 


A full length, almost life size, standing portrait 
of the musician. He is in evening dress and 
holds his violin and bow in the act of tuning. 
The background is dark gray, almost black, and 
the floor is a lighter gray. 

Butterfly monogram, in gray silhouette on the 
darker ground, is placed to the right about 
halfway up. Original frame designed and 
decorated by Whistler; his butterfly monogram 
is placed on the right-hand side. 

This portrait was seen in the studio at 13 Tite 
Street, Chelsea, by Joseph Pennell when, in 
1884, he visited Whistler for the first time. He 
says that ‘““what Whistler was trying to do was 
to paint the man on the shadowy concert plat- 
form as the audience saw him. Sarasarte is 
intended to look small, less than life-size, as he 
would appear when seen away up on the con- 
cert stage.”” Whistler in speaking of this por- 


-~ 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


trait to Sidney Starr referred to its being’ “All 
balanced by the bow.” 

It was exhibited for the first time at the Society 
of British Artists in 1885; was in the Paris Salon 
in 1891, and in the 1897 exhibition of the 
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburg, having been pur- 
chased in 1896. It was shown in the Memor- 
ial Exhibitions in Boston (No. 53), London (No. 
19), and Paris (No. 20). An illustration of this 
portrait and also of a pen-and-ink sketch for it 
appear in Pennell, v. 11, p. 4. 

Oil on canvas; H. 84”, W. 40”. 


30 GRAY AND SIEVER? tHe 
THAMES 


LENT BY ROSALIND BERNIE PHILIP 


A view, from the embankment in the fore- 
ground, of the quiet river reflecting a few small 
boats and the warehouses and tall chimneys on 
the opposite shore. There is a silvery gray sky. 
Oil on canvas; H. 233”, W. 1732”. 


ar SY MPHONY IN VIOLET AND 
fe Oa i 


LENT BY ALFRED ATMORE POPE 


Rolling sea with white-capped waves and three ° 


sailboats on the horizon. Blue sky with 
broken storm clouds. 


30 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBER 32 


Butterfly monogram, a dark silhouette, on the 
water near the left corner. 

This picture was in the Salon of 1894 although 
not catalogued. It was shown in the Boston 
Memorial Exhibition (No. 30). 

Oil on canvas; H. 193”, W. 28”. 


32 ARRANGEMENT IN BLACK 
AND GOLD: LE COMTE ROBERT 


LENT BY RICHARD A. CANFIELD 


Full length, life size, standing figure turned to 
the right with his face almost full front. He 
wears a black dress suit; a dark gray overcoat 
lined with silvery gray is thrown over his left 
arm; in his gloved hand he holds a slender 
brown cane. The background is dark, almost 
black; the floor a golden brown. 

Butterfly monogram, in brown silhouette against 
darker background, is placed to the left half- 
way up. 

This portrait of Count Robert de Montesquiou- 
Fezensac was painted in 1890 and 1891; there 
was a second one, never finished. Edmond de 
Goncourt in his journal for July 7, 1891, wrote: 
““Montesquiou tells me that Whistler is now 
doing two portraits of him: one is in evening 
dress with a fur coat under his arm, the other 
in a great gray cloak, with high collar at his 
neck just suggested, a necktie of a mauve not 


31 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


to be put into words, though his eyes express 
the ideal color of it.” 

Whistler undertook to make a lithograph of 
the Comte Robert but failed, saying that “it 
was impossible to produce the same master- 
piece twice over—as difficult as for a hen to lay 
the same egg twice.” 

The present owner purchased this portrait from 
the Comte de Montesquiou early in 1903. It 
was shown in the Boston Memorial Exhibition 
(No. 39). An illustration appears in Duret, 
Pp. 174- 

Oil on canvas; H. 814”, W. 33”. 


3 LAN DA LUSLE NN 2 eo toe 
OF PEARLAND SILVER 


LENT BY JOHN H. WHITTEMORE 


A full length, life size, standing figure, her back 
toward the spectator, the body half turned to 
the right and the face in profile. Her left hand 
rests on her hip; the right hangs at her side and 
lightly holds her dress. Her hair is almost 
black and is dressed in a tight knot. She wears 
a dress of black net over gray with transparent 
yoke and full elbow sleeves. The background 
is lilac-gray, the wall being much lighter than 
the floor. 

Butterfly monogram, a large dark silhouette, 
placed to the right near the center. 


32 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBER 34 


This is one of several portraits of Miss Ethel 
Bernie Philip, a sister of Whistler’s wife, who in 
1895 married Charles Whibley, the writer. The 
picture was in progress in the Paris studio at 
110 Rue du Bac, in 1894. An etched portrait 
of Mrs. Whibley is listed in the Mansfield Cata- 
logue, No. 438. 

It was shown in the American section at the 
Paris Exposition of 1900, and was in the Me- 
morial Exhibitions in Boston (No. 46) and 
Paris (No. 25). In Léonce Bénédite’s plates 
from the Paris Memorial Exhibition it is No. 
XK. 

Oil on canvas; H. 744”, W. 34”. 


34 A STUDY IN RED 


a, LENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
(FREER COLLECTION) 


The figure of a girl in transparent red drapery 
and wearing a red cap. 
Butterfly monogram, shaded in red, placed to 
the right. 
Pastel on brown paper; H. 104”, W. 53”. 


33 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


a; BLUE AND ROSE: THE OFEN 
FAN 


LENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
(FREER COLLECTION) 


The figure of a young girl in a rose-colored dress 
walking toward the left. A blue cap is on her 
head; in her right hand she holds an open white 
and blue fan and her left hand is raised to her 
shoulder. To the right is a pink shrub in a 
blue vase. 

Butterfly monogram, shaded in dark blue, is 
placed to the left. 

Pastel on brown paper; H. 10%”, W. 63”. 


36 ROSE AND RED: THE4GITTLE 
PINK CAP 


LENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
(FREER COLLECTION) 

A woman standing, full face, her rose and red 
robe thrown back disclosing the body. In her 
arms she holds a child wearing a pink cap. A 
few lines in the background convey the im- 
pression of sea and beach. 

Butterfly monogram, shaded in red, placed to 
the right. 

This picture was shown at the New English 
Art Club, London, in 1889, and it was in the 


34 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBERS 37 AND 38 


Memorial Exhibitions at Boston (No. 130) and 
Paris (No. 144). 
Pastel on brown paper; H. 104”, W. 62”. 


a7) THE MASTER SothDH OF 
XN AE Gels 


LENT BY THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON 


The half length of a man with folded arms; the 
head and figure turned three-quarters to the 
right. He has very dark hair and mustache 
and wears a dark gray overcoat and a light gray 
shirt. The background is dark brown. 
Butterfly monogram, a dark silhouette, at cen- 
ter of right hand edge. 

Whistler was at Lyme Regis, England, during 
the autumn of 1895. This picture was shown 
in the Memorial Exhibitions in Boston (No. 
36), London (No. 24) and Paris (No. 27). An 
illustration appears in Pennell, v. 11, p. 170. 
Oil on canvas; H. 192”, W. 114”. 


oy nts LATE RG oF 
Bw REGIS 


LENT BY THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON 


The half length portrait of a little girl, seen full 
face; her hands crossed in her lap. She has 


35 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


chestnut hair and wears a black dress and a red 
pinafore. The background is violet-brown. 

It was painted during the same season as the 
Master Smith. Included in the Memorial Ex- 
hibitions in Boston (No. 43), London (No. 26) 
and Paris (No. 42). An illustration appears in 
Pennell, v. 11, p. 166. 

Oil on canvas; H. 194”, W. 114”. 


% BLUE. AND. CORAL: tae 
ett tebe “Bw ES IBeO NON JESSE 


DENT BY HERBERT (25 (RRAEE 


The half length of a young girl, seated, her body 
turned three-quarters to the left and the face 
full front. She has chestnut hair and brown 
eyes that look straight at the spectator. Her 
gray-green dress is trimmed with peacock-blue; 
she wears a bonnet to match and a tulle bow at 
her throat. 

Butterfly monogram, a coral-red silhouette, to 
the left. 

The picture was in the Exhibition of the Inter- 
national Society of Sculptors, Painters and 
Gravers in London in 1896 (No. 182) and in the 
London Memorial Exhibition (No. 8). An 
illustration appears in Pennell, v. 1, p. 220. 
Oil on canvas; H. 224”, W. 17” (oval). 


36 


0 


A 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBERS 40 AND 4I 


/ 
_240 VERT ET OR: EE RACONTEUR 
4%) 
se 
5s 


LENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
(FREER COLLECTION) 


Half length figure of a young boy seen full 
front, his left hand raised. He has brown eyes 
and thick brown hair; the black coat with brown 
lapel is open and shows a brown vest and white 
shirt. The background is dark olive. 

Oil on canvas; H. 192”, W. 11”. 


a RO. AND GOLD: tae Larrioee 
LADY SOPHIE OF SOHO 


LENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
(FREER COLLECTION) 


0 
‘A half length portrait of a young girl, seated, 


with face and figure turned three-quarters to 
the left and her hands folded across her lap. 
Her eyes are dark gray and her dark brown 
hair hangs about her shoulders; she wears a 
black dress. The background is pinkish-gray. 
Butterfly monogram, in dark silhouette, to the 
left of the figure. 

This picture was included in the Memorial Ex- 
hibitions at Boston (No. 83) and Paris (No. 37). 
An illustration appears in Pennell, v. 11, p. 208. 
Oil on canvas; H. 25”, W. 20?” (oval). 


a7 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


42 POUTING TOM 
LENT BY H. H. BENEDICT 


The half length of a young girl, the face and 
figure seen full front. She wears a black dress 
with a white frill at the throat; a close-fitting 
black cap rests on her light brown hair, which 
falls to her shoulders and is cut low across her 
forehead. The background is dark olive. 

Oil on canvas; H. 19%”, W. 12”. 


43 GL ET PLE eRe Wy CAP 


LENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
(FREER COLLECTION) 

Half length of a little girl, seated, the figure 
turned three-quarters to the right and the face 
almost full front. A yellow-green cap rests on 
her auburn hair. The background is olive- 
green. 
Butterfly monogram, a dark silhouette, on the 
right near the edge. 
Oil on canvas; H. 20”, W. 12”, 


aa THE LATTLE FAUSTINA 


LENT BY THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART 
(FREER COLLECTION) 
Half length of a little girl seen full front, her 
hands folded in her lap. Her eyes are brown 
and her brown hair, parted in the middle, falls 
38 


WHISTLER EXHIBITION, NUMBERS 45 AND 46 


about her shoulders. She wears a dark dress 
cut low at the neck, disclosing a string of beads. 
The background is dark olive-gray. 

The picture was at the Paris Memorial Exhi- 
bition (No. 43). 

Oil on canvas; H. 193”, W. 113”. 


45 LA NAPOLITAINE: ROSE ET OR 
LENT BY RICHARD A. CANFIELD 


A bust portrait, full face, of a dark haired, dark 
eyed woman. She wears a rose colored dress 
with dark trimming around a V-shaped opening 
at the throat, which shows a single row of coral 
beads. Dark olive background. 

Butterfly monogram, scarcely more than a dark 
shadow, near the center of right-hand edge. 
The model for this was probably Mme. Carmen 
Rossi, who, as a child, had posed for Whistler. 
She lived in Naples for some years and then re- 
turned to Paris and in 1898 opened an art 
school at which Whistler. gave criticisms. 

Oil on canvas; H. 193”, W. 113”. 


46 GRAY AND SILVER: LA PETITE 
SOURIS 


LENT BY ROSALIND BERNIE PHILIP 
The bust portrait of a young woman seen almost 
fullface. She wears a dark gray dress and about 
2 


THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 


her neck is a gray feather boa held by her right 
hand. 

Butterfly monogram, a dark silhouette, is 
placed on the dress at the left. 

This picture was shown in the Memorial Ex- 
hibitions in Boston (No. 27) and Paris (No. 51). 
Oil on canvas; H. 194”, W. 113”. 


40 


PN DEX 


Andalusienne, L’ (Mother of Pearl and 
Silver) 

Annabel Lee . 

Archway, Venice . 

Arrangement in Black and Brown: Rosa 
Corder 

Arrangement in Black and Gold: Le 
Comte Robert .. 

Arrangement in Black: Portrait of Senor 
Pablo Sarasarte 

Battersea Reach (Nocturne: Pine, ana 
Silver) 

Blue and Coral: The Little Blue Bonnet 

Blue and Rose: The Open Fan... 

Blue and Silver: The Blue Wave, Biattitz 

Bognor (Nocturne: Blue and Silver) 

Canal, A, Venice . 

Cemetery, The, Venice 

Comte Robert de Montesquiou- -Fezensac 
(Arrangement in Black and Gold) 

Corder, Rosa (Arrangement in Black and 
Brown) 

Doorway, The, Venice 


4l 


INDEX 


Falling Rocket, The (Nocturne in Black 
and Gold) L | ; 

Ferry, The, Venice. 

Gray and Silver: The Thames 

Gray and Silver: La Petite Souris . 

Golden Screen, The (Harmony in Purple 
and Gold, II) 

Harmony in Green and Rose: The Music 
Room +), 

Harmony in Purple and Gold, I: The 
Golden Screen » iM 

Isles of Venice, The 

Japanese Dress, The aT ae ae 

Lange Leizen—of the Six Marks: Purple 
and Rose. tn oe FF 

Leyland, F. R., Portrait of 

Leyland, Florence, Portrait of . 

Little Blue Bonnet, The (Blue and Coral 

Little Faustina, The 

Little Green Cap 

Little Lady Sophie of Soho, The (Rose and 
Gold)... é 

Little Pink Cap, The (Regs andl Red) 

Little Rose of Lyme Regis, The 

Little White Girl, The si aged in 
White, II) . 

kong Vendée . . 

Master Smith of Lyme Regis, The 

Music Room, The (Harmony in Green and 
Rose) . 


42 


INDEX 


Napolitaine, La (Rose et Or) 

Nocturne: Blue and Silver—Battersea 
Reach a eo. ee 

Nocturne: Blue and Silver-—Bognor 

Nocturne in Black and Gold: Falling 
POCKET he aie Ess lee elem Ss 

Nocturne: Blue and fasgttl aait 

Nocturne: Venice... 

Ocean, The (Symphony in Gray and 
Green) : . 

Open Fan, The (Blue aiid Resi 

Petite Souris, La (Gray and Silver) . 

Pouting Tom 

Purple and Rose (The Lange Leizen of 
the Six Marks) 

Raconteur, Le (Vert et Or) 

Rose and Red: The Little Pink Cap ' 

Rose and Gold: The Little ee aia 
of Soho. 

Rose et Or (La Napolitaine) 

Sarasarte (Arrangement in Black) 

Street; A, Venice: . 

Study in Red; A. ~. 

Symphony in Gray and Green: The 
Ocean . ae 

Symphony in Violet and Blue a 

Symphony in White, I: The White 
Cit. = ebay as §, 

Symphony in White, it. Phe Exttle 
White Girl ee 

43 


INDEX 


Thames, The (Gray and Silver) . 
Three Girls (The White Symphony) 
Valparaiso (Nocturne: Blue and Gold) 
Venice, Archway . Pony 
Venice, A Canal 

Venice, The Cemetery . 

Venice, The Doorway . 

Venice, The Ferry 

Venice, The Isles of 

Venice, Long 

Venice (Nocturne) 

Venice, A Street . 

Venus Astarte toe 

Vert epOr® Ke-Racemtent;s.) 4 
Whistler, A Portrait Sketch of Mr. . 


Frontispiece 


White Girl (Symphony in White, I) 
White Symphony, The: Three Girls . 


Tele pe metie 3 


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